NOR AIN MOHAMED RADHI speaks to newly-appointed National Economic Action Council members — Hartabumi.com chief executive officer and co-founder Radzi Tajuddin, RinggitPlus.com CEO and co-founder Liew Ooi Hann and TheLorry.com executive director and co-founder Nadhir Ashafiq — on youth empowerment, unemployment and the gig economy.
Question: Youths are the leaders of tomorrow, and for a nation with a greater percentage of young citizens, should more empowerment be given to them, especially at managerial level?
Liew: The reality of the economic structure today should give more empowerment to qualified youths to be in senior management level or directorship, including in government-linked companies.
Senior management needs to be aware that the users of today and the future are best understood by people below 40, because they grew up in the economy that is to come.
It is not a case of promoting the youths, but it is good for businesses to have the mindset of forward-looking youths with youth leaders grown up in the digital economy.
It is imperative for public listed companies to take into account not just their young age, but also suitability. No one is more suitable to be proponents of digital innovation and propel companies to the digital economy than the youths.
The challenge is not forcing youths into positions. There are many qualified individuals who can add value to these positions.
Radzi: This is not a new thing. During the financial crisis, youths were there too.
Hence, there is a need to give them a chance to prove themselves.
They have a desire to prove themselves and have fewer legacy issues to deal with.
Our appointment to the National Economic Action Council (NEAC) is a huge milestone, and credit must be given to the current government.
Youth appointments should not stop at ours to the council, because if there is any new council to be established by the government, it should involve youths as well.
Q: It was reported that the youth unemployment rate in Malaysia today stands at 10.3 per cent. How do we address unemployment among youths?
Radzi: This is a serious matter. Should we fail to address the problem, we are talking about young blood with no jobs. Unemployment is a ticking time bomb.
As for those who managed to secure a job, the issue would be their salaries.
Many of them earn less than RM2,000 per month and the salary increase averages only three per cent yearly.
Q: What can be done to address that?
Radzi: The education system must undergo a total revamp. After spending four years in the university, many still can’t find a job. Why is that so?
We believe students must have the skill sets that the industry wants. Our education system must be revamped in line with industry needs.
Nadhir: Malaysia could learn something from Lambda School, an online coding programme, where those interested are
given training for nine months for free. After they managed to secure a job with a salary of more than US$4,000, only then will the platform provider take a portion.
This model aligns education providers with the industry.
If I have the time, I’d love to do a similar programme in Malaysia.
Q: What else can be done?
Radzi: There is a need to break monopolies in many industries in the country.
Monopoly pushes inefficiency, which pushes prices up and creates fewer opportunities. Why allow a monopoly when we can have many players?
Once you have a competitive environment, you can create a lot of entrepreneurs and job opportunities.
Next up is a new way of doing things. Undermining efforts to bring in GoJek, saying that it is a low-income work is not right, and we do not agree with it.
Many youths rely on the ride-hailing industry. For some people, RM2,000 a month is low, but for others, it could be meaningful.
Allowing a two-wheeler ride-hailing service is a good move.
We can regulate the safety aspects, and on halal and haram concerns, we can come up with features allowing female riders for female passengers.
It is about giving job opportunities to those without any.
Q: What can be done to improve the welfare of gig economy workers?
Nadhir: We cannot deny that many people need the ride-hailing services, not only for ferrying passengers from point A to point B, but also for delivery.
We are trying to ensure the riders’ welfare is cared for.
What is needed right now are regulations and support for gig economy players from different angles.
These gig economy workers, they work as long as 9-to-5 workers, but the benefits aren’t there. Many gig economy workers do not have financial safety nets.
Firstly, maybe the Employees Provident Fund can come out with a special scheme for them.
Secondly, there should be contributions to the Social Security Organisation to protect them.
Thirdly, have banks draw up a framework where their salaries could be used as a payslip to apply for car or house loans.
With these, we believe they would be able to improve their socio-economic status.
Liew: A delicate balance is needed between regulation and deregulation. The key move is to go back to principles rather than rules.
As gig economy providers, you need to treat gig workers as good as full-time workers, and appropriate regulations need to be put in place.
Q: Can you elaborate about your appointment to NEAC?
Radzi: It was Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman who wanted to have youth involvement in the council and hence, suggested our names.
But at that time, we were told that only one of us would be selected for the council.
Nonetheless, on the third day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, we went for an interview with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and spent about 30 minutes with him.
We presented our own ideas on how to help government policies, especially in the digital economy, as well as how to achieve NEAC’s target — to reduce cost of living, provide more job opportunities, home ownership and so on.
Later, we were told by the minister (Syed Saddiq), that the prime minister had asked why not have the three of us in the council, instead of only one.
It clearly showed Dr Mahathir’s commitment and trust in youth in the country.
NOTE: Members of the council include Dr Mahathir as chairman; Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking and the Prime Minister’s Economic Adviser Dr Muham-med Abdul Khalid.
Other members of the council include former international trade and industry minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Permodalan Nasional Bhd chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Council of Eminent Persons member Prof Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Public Bank Bhd managing director Tan Sri Tay Ah Lek, Majlis Amanah Rakyat chairman Dr Hasnita Hashim, Bursa Malaysia chairman Datuk Shireen Ann Zaharah Muhiudeen, Asean Business Advisory council chairman Tan Sri Dr Mohd Munir Abdul Majid, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association chief executive officer Datuk Dr Paul Selvaraj, lawyer Bah Tony @ Amani Williams-Hunt Abdullah, and Masa Depan Malaysia institute board of trustees member Nizam Mahshar.
Q: What was the response of council members to your appointments?
Radzi: We can’t speak on their behalf. But we found that they were very open, especially when it comes to space for us to express our opinions and from there, we learnt many things from the members too.
We feel that all members are equal and given a fair chance. It’s a good start.
Liew: There were many voices across the council, from economists to ministers, academicians, activists and us, entrepreneurs and digital economy leaders.
Our views are very much requested and not just heard, particularly on the digital economy, be it e-commerce or FinTech (financial technology) or how technology can be used to drive economic progress and allow efficiencies in the marketplace.